John Griffiths (and family) left yesterday, appointing me the de facto
sports czar for Mukinge. While we are still working on getting the
tennis court surface finished -- a difficult task given the amount of
rain we've had -- I'm now the proud owner of more sports equipment than
I've probably ever had in my life: basketball, soccerball, rugby ball
(!), volleyball, and several frisbees, not to mention the volleyball and
tennis court net. I say owner, although I'm merely the regulator of all
things sports now, since I have no intention of ever keeping any of
these things. Anyway, I got a little bit of insight into the shifting
world of playground politics as I lent the soccerball to some kids,
expecting to have it returned. No such thing happened, and the next day
some more kids came asking for another ball. I, with visions of an
incipient runaway ball orgy centered around my garden shed, asked for
the first ball to be returned before further balls would be lent out.
This led to a 30 minute discussion with the various tribes of kids on my
doorstep as they accused each other of various things like selling off
the balls, hiding them in their gardens, promises from the departed
Griffiths family to bequeath various balls to different kids, and so
forth. I felt especially bad for some kid named Mpungo, who was
actually the lucky recipient of a soccerball, but who was now disowned
by all of the kids as being no-one's friend, therefore meaning that
no-one could play with his ball, so they needed another one. I'm sure
that just one day ago poor Mpungo had a few friends, but now I'm
picturing him in some lonely front yard kicking his ball to himself.
Well, if the first day is any indication, it will be a short-lived
tenure as the sports czar, except for maybe the basketball and tennis
net. We'll see....
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